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gluten_freeIt is my firm belief that the word moist is a good word in correct context, and the correct context is cake. Moist cake, moist soil, maaaybe a moist sponge. Not, under any circumstances, moist erogenous zones.
So, I have re-subscribed to a veg box delivery service, which means TOO MANY VEGGIBLES. Again. Thus, I set out to make carrot cake. My most likely victims for extra cake are vegan, so it had to be a vegan carrot cake. I adapted it from the bbc good food recipe, and optimised for making 12 large cupcakes and one loaf tin, rather than a layer cake.
This recipe is: vegan, gluten-free
This recipe CAN be: made on regular flour and/or regular milk
This recipe requires: a bit of faffing around if you make both the tray of cupcakes and the loaf; either electric beaters or a tedious time with hand beaters, I don't think merely a spoon will do it. A microwave will make your life easier, but a stove would work. Oh and you need scales
250ml coconut oil/coconut fat, melted
300g of sugar, in a mix of brown and white (I used 2:1 brown to white)
1½ tsp vanilla essence
210ml dairy free milk , we used oat milk
420g flour (I used 200g buckwheat to 220 gf mix)
1½ tsp baking powder (over-estimating is fine for gf flour, indeed probably recommended)
1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp ground nutmeg [i actually forgot all the spices and it's still delicious]
1 orange , zest only
4 medium carrots , grated (you want 270g grated weight)
50-100 g chopped walnuts
This turned out fine, but I do normally add a dash of lemon juice to gf baking to properly activate the baking powder/soda.
PREP: 180 c oven, 12 muffin tins with papers; 1 small bar tin lined and greased
1. Beat the melted coconut fat and the sugars together. This doesn't cream up like butter and sugar - although I HAVE manged to cream room-temp coconut fat and sugar, before, so if you're a purist feel free
2. Mix in vanilla and milk
3. Combine the flour, baking powder and soda, and the spices. Add orange zest and grated carrot.
4. Mix into the wet mix; add walnuts.
5. Divide among the muffin tins; cook for 15-20 min
6. Put remaining mix in the bar loaf and cook for 20-25 min.
I did steps 5 & 6 sequentially because it's winter, more oven is good. Neither seemed to suffer from the door being opened to check on them, so it's probably fine to do them together.
Step 7 is: realise you have too much vegan carrot cake, seek to inflict it on your friends.
So, I have re-subscribed to a veg box delivery service, which means TOO MANY VEGGIBLES. Again. Thus, I set out to make carrot cake. My most likely victims for extra cake are vegan, so it had to be a vegan carrot cake. I adapted it from the bbc good food recipe, and optimised for making 12 large cupcakes and one loaf tin, rather than a layer cake.
This recipe is: vegan, gluten-free
This recipe CAN be: made on regular flour and/or regular milk
This recipe requires: a bit of faffing around if you make both the tray of cupcakes and the loaf; either electric beaters or a tedious time with hand beaters, I don't think merely a spoon will do it. A microwave will make your life easier, but a stove would work. Oh and you need scales
250ml coconut oil/coconut fat, melted
300g of sugar, in a mix of brown and white (I used 2:1 brown to white)
1½ tsp vanilla essence
210ml dairy free milk , we used oat milk
420g flour (I used 200g buckwheat to 220 gf mix)
1½ tsp baking powder (over-estimating is fine for gf flour, indeed probably recommended)
1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp ground nutmeg [i actually forgot all the spices and it's still delicious]
1 orange , zest only
4 medium carrots , grated (you want 270g grated weight)
50-100 g chopped walnuts
This turned out fine, but I do normally add a dash of lemon juice to gf baking to properly activate the baking powder/soda.
PREP: 180 c oven, 12 muffin tins with papers; 1 small bar tin lined and greased
1. Beat the melted coconut fat and the sugars together. This doesn't cream up like butter and sugar - although I HAVE manged to cream room-temp coconut fat and sugar, before, so if you're a purist feel free
2. Mix in vanilla and milk
3. Combine the flour, baking powder and soda, and the spices. Add orange zest and grated carrot.
4. Mix into the wet mix; add walnuts.
5. Divide among the muffin tins; cook for 15-20 min
6. Put remaining mix in the bar loaf and cook for 20-25 min.
I did steps 5 & 6 sequentially because it's winter, more oven is good. Neither seemed to suffer from the door being opened to check on them, so it's probably fine to do them together.
Step 7 is: realise you have too much vegan carrot cake, seek to inflict it on your friends.
This sounds delicious!
Date: 2021-11-21 10:23 pm (UTC)Re: step 1 -- it's all down to what temperature your room is. :,)
If you have a chance, I'd love to know the dimensions of your bar tin.
I just finished my third slice of a new carrot cake, following the recipe in The Loopy Whisk's Katarina Cermelj's new cookbook, Baked to Perfection. A cookbook review may be appearing at a comm near you.
Comparing your recipe the basic elements and proportions are the same. But her recipe called for 4 eggs. I assume they would contribute to the cake's structure, but evidently not so much!
I did like her flour mix (40% tapioca, 30% buckwheat, 30% millet).
Re: This sounds delicious!
Date: 2021-11-22 04:07 pm (UTC)Eggs would probably help it rise! Gluten-free cakes in loaf tins struggle anyway, they often end up sunk in the middle, and eggless ones especially so - this one was shallow in the tin and didn't rise very high, and so has a relatively good stability.
...thanks
Date: 2021-11-22 11:15 pm (UTC)Ah! we can redefine success: if a loaf doesn't rise, it's a bar
Re: ...thanks
Date: 2021-11-26 04:29 pm (UTC)Excellent thinking here.
no subject
Date: 2021-11-22 06:49 pm (UTC)My favorite carrot cake recipe, which has been the cake for my birthday ever since my mom made it for the occasion when I was 10 or so, uses liquid vegetable oil for the fat (the recipe comes from the time when that was called "salad oil"-- any light-flavored liquid oil would work, from light olive to avocado to canola/rapeseed, I think I've even used almond or walnut fancy oil); eggs for structure (I haven't tried it with vegan substitutes, but I think a gum-based one would work, flax is probably not strong enough); the non-oil moisture comes from tinned crushed pineapple as well as shredded carrot, and it also has coconut shreds, sultanas, and chopped nuts besides the flour, leavening, sugar and spices. No orange zest, though -- that seems like a nice touch.
no subject
Date: 2021-11-22 07:32 pm (UTC)I mean, true, but I guess the tag gets applied here in the same way it would to roast lamb: because someone LOOKING for dairy-free would want to take carrot cake into account!
Re structure and carrot cake... in my experience it doesn't really need eggs or gum! this isn't the recipe I was using last year, I can't find that one, but that was a regular carrot cake recipe that I was just... cavalierly leaving eggs out of, with no ill effects. Same works for banana cake. I think it might be a problem if you wanted to make a big high 20cm round cake, like a lot of cafés do, but for a loaf tin or cupcakes? I always add a little extra baking powder for gf anyway, and it seems to work. Especially if you remember to add a little acid to your milk-substitute.
no subject
Date: 2021-11-23 06:54 pm (UTC)My family version raises fine with an ordinary amount of leavening and no extra acid (the pineapple juice gives plenty) but it has so many lumpy things in, I feel like it needs something to bind them all together if it's not going to end up crumbly (the glutiny original recipe is pretty crumbly, if I recall; it's been a while since I made it) -- especially depending what gf flour blend is used. A blend optimized for chewy bread might do better than one optimized for tender cake. I tend to use a lot of oat flour, which is pretty sticky/chewy.
Part of what's intriguing me about your carrot cake is how it seems like it it could be more tender and delicate.